(no subject)

[irregularbeat]

Who: Tomoro and Various [open]
What: Quests, electricity control
Where: Outside the city, quest locations
When: First half of May

Outside the Bay, Tomoro was practicing.

He had been training for some time with Umemiya in regards to controlling his electricity. That had been going...adequately. But now was time for him to take on some effort on his own. It was different from simply funneling more e-pulse into Gekkomon, for he had to be careful to hold back his electrical power, lest he pour too much into a single attack. Where giving Gekkomon more e-pulse was largely beneficial, letting his electricity spark out of control was largely a bad idea.

How was he making the attempt to curb such an out of control charge? By releasing his Discharge attack in the forest, where no one could get hurt by it, and attempting to hold back any electricity that tried to spark off afterwards. And he did it again, and again, and again, succeeding in weakening the offshoots each time, until he finally managed to keep it from happening entirely.

Except...

"I don't know if I'm succeeding or if I'm just using up my electricity," he sighed to himself, the young Toxitricity slumping against a tree as he took a rest. His scales felt raw, from releasing so much energy over and over, and his body felt drained and tired. Was he making progress or just running himself ragged?

He wish he had some idea which one it was.

Comments

[ locked to Mayaka ]

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro was not very good at carving, he was learning.

He and Mayaka had decided to undertake one of the quests on the questboard, this one for one of their fellow offworlders. They were going to make stamps for Parvati out of wood, but Tomoro was learning that he 1) had very little concept of the shapes of English letters versus kanji and katakana, and 2) was exceptionally bad with a knife thanks to his chubby lizard round fingers.

Eventually, he held up what could generally be called a stamp in the shape of the letter "d", and asked Mayaka, "How does this look, senpai? Do you think I did a good enough job?"

Bless his heart, he's trying.

[ locked to III ]

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro didn't know III that well, or...well, at all, really, so he was surprised when the Ralts approached him asking for help with this quest. Tomoro accepted because he felt the other Pokémon also had something to prove just as he did, and because he wanted to familiarize himself with the Heavy Dowmoor area, but he had to admit, he had some nervousness about the whole arrangement.

Still...that's a lot of Fairy Pokémon.

He looks over at III, and asks, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

[ locked to Anasui ]

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro walked along the ground on all fours as he and Anasui led the group of Spheal to where there was supposedly a location with ice. Between the Spheal rolling around like large balls, and the Espathra's sure footed gait, it was the only way he could keep up, what with how short his own two-legged gait was.

"Do you know exactly where we're headed?" Tomoro asked, feeling somewhat exhausted. It may have been the second or third time he asked that question...

[sharpjustice]

Mayaka's using her claws to work directly with the wood. She's whittled it down to a rectangle and is now engraving the shape of a ribbon border. It looks like this isn't her first time carving something out of wood.

She looks up at Tomoro's question, tilting her head to seriously consider what is being presented to her.

"Your lines aren't straight enough." She gives an unbiased assessment. No mercy for Tomoro even if he is trying his best!

"I know! Why not try using charcoal to trace out the shape of the letter on the wood first? You can use it as a guide."

She points out the charcoal pencils she's left out on the ground, which she's been using as well to plan the shapes she intends to carve.

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro sighs. He does appreciate her being honest, even if she's being harsh. He'll never improve if he doesn't get honest feedback.

"I guess I could try that," he says as he discards his failed attempt. "But honestly, I don't know how much it'll help. It's hard holding objects in these weird reptile hands."

Nevertheless, he does pick up the charcoal and try to draw a straight line...

[dripdrive]

Anasui glances back at Tomoro for the third or fourth time this journey. At first, it wasn't the Toxtricity's fault - Anasui just thought Tomoro looked 'wrong' walking on all fours- but now the glances are accompanied by a small glare. Anasui clicks his tongue irritably and looks away.

"As I said ten minutes ago... yes. I know exactly where I'm going," Anasui says, not bothering to hide his prickly tone. "I've been to Icefall Lake several times before. This is a known route to me." Anasui doesn't bother to mention that he was literally in the region a month ago and had been part of the team that first discovered the lake. He figured that would be clear when they get there.

"Are you able to keep matching our pace? I don't want to waste time taking unnecessary breaks but you collapsing wouldn't be helpful either."

[sharpjustice]

"Yeah, it took me a lot of tries to figure out how to hold a brush with my claws. You'll get the hang of it after awhile."

She continues chipping away at her piece of wood, glancing over every now and then to check on Tomoro's progress. His clumsy attempts can't help but remind her of something that happened in the past.

"In my middle school, it's a tradition for the third years to do come together to do a graduation project. In my year, it was decided that we'd be carving a wooden frame for a big mirror for the school. Because it was something the teachers decided, and not really what the students wanted... many of them kind of just gave up and didn't put in effort into the parts of the mirror they were supposed to carve. Some gave the excuse that they weren't good at it, or they left it to those who were more 'talented' to carve."

She smiles softly at the memory. It sounds so petty now, but she'd been so annoyed by those who refused to put in effort into the project. Mayaka hadn't been any better, she'd told the boys in her group to leave the carvings to her, because she didn't trust they'd do a good job at it.

Seeing someone like Tomoro, who's struggling but giving it a try anyway -- she respects him a bit for it.

[ locked to Impmon ]

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro was...not fond of Impmon, to say the least. The two of them argued like cats and dogs at the best of times, and at the worst...well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. How they ended up working together to guard the teleport locations for his quest was mostly a matter of no one else being available to help the other, so they were stuck with each other.

Sadly, the Pokémon world had no Get Along Shirts scaled to fit a Sableye and a Toxitricity for this venture, so they were stuck waiting on opposite sides of the clearing the teleporter was located in for the supplies to transfer. Tomoro was bored, so he took out his makeshift drumsticks and began tapping them against a tree, banging out a beat to occupy his mind.

He did this without any regard for whether it would bother Impmon, of course.

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro listened to that...and nodded along, as she told her story.

"I've had to put extra effort into everything ever since I was a little kid," he responded. "Not that I was gifted or anything. Not like that. It was because of my e-pulse making everything malfunction, and it being such a big part of everything. I had to try so hard, and all I did was just barely make it by..."

He sighed. "By the time I made it to high school...I'd stopped trying. Because all the sapotamas, the AI...I didn't trust it anymore. I stopped putting in all that effort. Even when I fell in with Glowing Dawn, I barely put any energy into bounties that didn't involve helping my brother Asuka. It wasn't until I saved one of my teammates who was in danger...one of my new family...that I realized, I had to try again, not just for my brother's sake..."

Tomoro smiled sadly.

"I'm just trying to carry on that same way of thinking here, I guess. Even if all I do is 'get by'...it's better than just being apathetic, right?"

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro sighed. That was the same answer he'd gotten before, yes...but he'd just wanted reassurance, he supposed.

"I can match it just fine," he said. "I can keep pace better on all fours than I can walking on two...I'm too top-heavy and gangly with these short hind legs otherwise. It's so weird trying to get around for long distances like that."

It's like being a teenager.

[sharpjustice]

Mayaka knows how demoralising it can be, to not have anything that comes naturally to you. To have to put in loads of effort and not even be satisfied with the results.

"I know I may look like I'm good at stuff like this, but I've never really been happy with the art I make. I've put in so much time to try to improve myself... I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I gave up. I guess, that's my reason to keep trying."

Even though she doesn't think her art will ever be as good as the masterpieces she looks up to, she foolishly thinks one day she'll be able to make a truly special manga. Mayaka fidgets with the half-completed carving in her claws.

"I'm glad you decided to try again, Tomo-kun. That you have a reason to. It's better that we try, and risk getting hurt, than to stop caring about things at all."

Mayaka says this, not just because she stubbornly believes in it, but because to think otherwise would break her spirit.

[irregularbeat]

"I guess anything worth doing means trying really hard and putting a lot of effort in," Tomoro replied. "And...you're right, you know. When I was really lost once, I wanted to just give up. I thought I'd lost my beat. Gekkomon...he made me realize that I just needed to talk to him, even if it was hard..."

He sighed, and laughed a bit. "That probably doesn't make much sense, does it? I'm not sure how else to explain it, though."

At that, Tomoro shows the shape he drew with the charcoal. To his credit, the lines are a bit straighter.

[dripdrive]

"Hmph. Fair enough. It's why whenever I wanted to be top-heavy, I made sure to compensate with longer legs," Anasui says before looking forward.

"Um... What does that mean?" one of the Spheal asks. Anasui ignores them and presses on. A different Spheal rolls forward.

"Hey! I'm getting hungry. Are we gonna get snacks?" the Spheal asks. Anasui also ignores them and casually stops the Spheal like a football so it doesn't get too far ahead of the others. Then he lets it go and lets it keep rolling.

[ba_boom]

Impmon has never been what anybody would call an endless font of patience, but guarding a spot and reporting on changes wasn't too bad. Besides, he was trying to improve his soap-carving. By the looks of the chunk he's currently working on, it needs it- the shape in his paws could either be a very crude flower or maybe some sort of horrible bat with a fanged mouth, and even those are only very generous guesses.

He seems, however, to be thoroughly engrossed in the task, never really paying attention to Tomoro and only glancing at the teleporter every few minutes to make sure he hasn't missed anything happening. So far, nothing.

Nothing, that is, except a sudden loud thump. Impmon flinches in surprise, shaving a rather large chunk off the soap as he suddenly glances up at Tomoro. Then he looks down at his soap with a 'geh!' of dismay and gets to work trying to fix the mistake.

And then the single thump is followed up by an insistent rhythmic beat of sticks against tree, and Impmon's teeth visibly grit as he tries to ignore it and focus on his carving. Finally, he tosses his soap on the ground with disgust and snaps,

"Aw, for cryin' out loud, don't you got anything quieter to do?"

[irregularbeat]

...Tomoro wants to know what that means too. Does that mean Anasui had some kind of choice in selecting his current form? But that doesn't make any sense...

Still, Tomoro is going to keep a close eye on that Spheal, and also the others. "Hey, don't get too far ahead," he says, nervously. "And that goes for the rest of you too, okay?"

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro smirks, actually somewhat smugly satisfied that he's gotten Impmon's Gogoat with this. He continues what he's doing, continuing to incessantly tap his sticks against the tree.

"Sorry. The beat has me! I couldn't stop even if I wanted to!"

[sharpjustice]

"Not bad. Keep practicing!" The Sneasel attempts to give him a thumbs up with her claws, though she doesn't know if the gesture is discernable.

"And I think I know what you mean. It's better to talk to someone, than to keep going round in circles yourself," Mayaka says, furrowing her brow a litte.

"But what did you say just now... your beat? Is that what you're interested in, music?"

[irregularbeat]

"Something like that," Tomoro replies, before nodding and smiling wider. He's definitely encouraged!

"And yeah, I'm interested in music. I learned from my brother, Asuka, before he got his condition. He was always saying 'believe in your beat' whenever I started to doubt my abilities. In fact..."

Somewhat solemnly: "Those were his last words to me before he got cold heart."

[sharpjustice]

The feather on Mayaka's head begins to droop when she hears those words. Is this what Tomoro meant when he said he had to help his brother?

"What's cold heart? Is he... okay?"

Bottlecap Critics' Circle: Sweets Edition

[gimmeeyeballs]

It was a shock, a major shock to this rancid awful candle to learn that she wasn't in fact banned from the bug cafe, the Burrow Lounge. Then again...they may have been too busy to notice Catrina approaching the front door as there is no one minding the door.

Maybe this was a good omen? Maybe the vicious band won't be playing today?

Well this bodes well enough...oh wait a moment. Catrina goes to look up at Tomoro before looking back at the Cafe entrance way. If Tomoro is super duper quiet, he'll hear those rusted gears of Catrina's brain starting to turn.

"Shit, I don't think you're gonna be able to fit inside."

[irregularbeat]

"Cold heart is when all your e-pulse gets drained by a Digimon. It causes the body to freeze and all biological functions to cease. You're not dead exactly, but...you're technically not really alive, either."

Tomoro is gravely serious as he explains that, having stopped his drawing as he does so.

"A Digimon called a Hyemon did that to Asuka, then a monkey Digimon deleted him and stole the Sapotama containing his E-Pulse. I've been trying to find that Digimon all this time so I can get it back and restore him."

[irregularbeat]

Tomoro gives Catrina an expression like he's already figured this out just by looking at the entrance.

"Gee, you think so?" he replied, doing his best not to sound sarcastic...and largely failing. "I guess you're going to have to go in for both of us."

[gimmeeyeballs]

"I mean, if we tried really hard and use a lot of grease, maybe you can slide right in?" Catrina was being a little asshole at this point as she considers. "But yeah, I can go in for the both of us in the boring fashion."

Without much prompting, Catrina waltzes into the Cafe...if this is the best course of action is up to debate really.

[irregularbeat]

"You are not greasing me up," Tomoro replied, flatly. Then he watched Catrina slide into the Cafe...and wondered if this was really the best course of action after all, to be honest.

[gimmeeyeballs]

It likely wasn't....oh no. A few mere minutes later, Catrina is skittering out of there with a bag of croissants..stale looking croissants with a cup of nectar and the infamous mud. What is the mud? Who really knows!

"They gave me a good deal on the pastries!" Catrina...honey...they likely were clearing out the old pastries...honey...